The development and growth of music notation did not happen accidentally, quickly, nor haphazardly. It was a deliberate but difficult process demonstrating great sacrifice and dedication to the truth. Like many great inventions, music notation became what it is today partly due to the desire of the people to have music in their hand and partly due to the relentless tenacity of one man who found a better way and did not give up in his quest for improvement.
Without the printing press, computers, cell phones, cds, and recorded music, maintaining consistent performance of music was hit or miss at best and entirely dependent on the oral tradition and the teaching of the so-called experts in music. To an extent, music belonged to the people, but was reserved for the elites to understand and to offer their inside knowledge whenever necessary. Like a faucet with an on/off valve, the leaders, generally a branch of the papacy, would govern the knowledge that would be allowed to be released to the people. This practice then gave the authority to those in the know, to the elite group of music readers with the special gifts and abilities to read and understand the secret code called music.
Recall that the educational system was closely tied to the religious orders of the time with the teachers being pulled directly from the Roman-Catholic churches and monasteries. Education, as it has always been, was limited to the resources available, which included physical materials, human ingenuity, and the accepted systems for teaching whatever particular discipline was being taught. While many may disagree, it has been argued that the finest education does indeed occur through direct connection to the church and its teachings. And yet, there is also little doubt that when ideas of an individual are squelched, the result is a deplorable lack of progress. Society and culture grow dramatically from the creative spirit of a person with ideas.
Originally, the system for teaching music was based on church modes, unison melodies, and neumatic notation with the oral tradition having more influence than the written notes. The teachers and musicians were limited to both the prescribed neumatic system and the tradition of music presentation in the church. But limits do not imply a lack of expression, for the music was beautiful, engaging, and spiritual. (http://youtube.com/watch?v=MZ8iRv67lVM&mode=related&search=) The challenge was not in advancing the case for greater complexity, but rather to teach the precise expectation of that which was required in performance. The clergy were restricted by a difficult system that was not easily understood by the common people. Since knowledge is power, the mysteries of music notation gave them a misguided sense of autonomy over the people.
It was the heroism of one man who countered the authorities and sought a way to demystify the notation of music and thus bring music to all the people, making it available to the common man. His name was Guido (995-1050) of Arezzo and he is one of the earliest and most significant music educators in history. Although his treatise, Micrologus (c.1025), is an important an early source for understanding the development of polyphony and ultimately harmony in music, it was his contributions and innovations in the area of music notation that he placed his handprint on the world.
In Guido's efforts to teach students music, he used a remarkably simple but effective tool--his own hand. By pointing to and eventually using a drawing of his own hand, he developed an advanced system of what is referred to as solmization, or the use of Do, Re, Mi to teach the order of pitches in music. For his efforts and remarkable invention, which quickly became a threat to the old ways, Guido was removed from his position at the monastery he resided and opened shop somewhere else. But as it is impossible to stop the tide of truth, and great ideas cannot be kept within the walls, the Guidonian Hand found an excited audience in the people desperate to read music and to have music around them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guidonian_hand
Guido's invention, which ultimately lead to the five line staff that we use today, gave us tools to understand and to apply one of God's greatest gifts, the gift of music. Guido and his method were eventually, but not without pain, accepted and supported by Pope John which led him to return to his home in Arezzo. For a more detailed expository of his life and contributions please read: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07065a.htm.
While it was not easy, and took sacrifice, tenacity, and commitment, we owe it to Guido d'Arezzo for bringing music to the people and giving all of us an opportunity to experience and enjoy the power of music. Music is indeed a universal language, a language for everyone, and music belongs to the people and mostly in the hands of people. We owe a special thank you to Guido for handing us the system of music we use today.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Stress Switch
Walking down to the pasture to feed the baby goat, being careful to avoid stepping in the low places, and balancing the flashlight in one hand with a bottle of milk and a cup of orange juice in the other, I began to set my goals for the day and for the rest of week. I thought about the personnel under my charge, the many accounts that needed attention, the projections for growth, the need for academic compliance with accrediting agencies, work responsibilities, facility challenges in various departments, and mostly, all the things I needed to accomplish. These thoughts and more enveloped me and weighed heavily on me as I neared the fence and began to call for baby billy.
He ran to the fence with a sleepy but excited and energetic bound and stuck his head through the fence to get the bottle that I gave him each morning before I headed off to work. Unfortunately, this particular morning, in trying to shine the light on the little goat and get the bottle to him, I accidentally lifted the orange juice to his mouth where he quickly and eagerly grabbed it and swallowed a mouthful. At the same moment, thinking I was drinking my own orange juice, I, instead, took a healthy swig of goat formula and changed into a goat on the wrong side of the fence.
It took me a few minutes to discern the reality of my unusual situation. My brain functioned as a human but my outward appearance and my instincts were that of a goat. I momentarily laughed, cried, and instantly tried to scream for someone to help me, but all I could muster was a mournful baaaa and a grunt. I felt something crash into me and looked around to see another goat butt me hard in anger at the sounds I was making. I quickly moved into battling position, but the goat had moved away in apathy as though I made no difference at all in his life.
I looked around and saw the other goats and felt a desire to be near the others. This was new to me since my former human self sometimes preferred to be alone, particularly first thing in the morning. So I wandered over to the other goats, a group of nannies and one billy that did not acknowledge me at all, and quickly experienced hunger pangs and found myself bending down to find some grass and weeds which strangely were quite tasty but not very filling. As I munched on the delicious grass, I paused occasionally to look around and for the first time in a long time, felt completely devoid of any kind of goals or purpose. It was as though my mind had become a blank slate, but not even a slate, more of an empty space, with little ability to process much of anything other than my most basic of needs, namely food. It was strangely comforting, in the manner of not having to make any decisions can be, such as losing the sense of choice is both relaxing and disconcerting, and yet, the lack of discernment, its fundamental joy notwithstanding, was still more than a little frightening at the same time.
But what of my counterpart, my evil twin, my clone, my own personal thief? What of his whereabouts? Was he frightened also of the new life? Did his fear include driving, talking, meetings, calls, computer? In his new found freedom from the weeds of pasture, was the actually result a bigger pasture with more weeds? Was his freedom actually his straitjacket as he attempted to fit in with the human world? When he arrived in my office and encountered the first difficult question of the day, did he relish in the opportunity to solve the problem or did he beg for the past when his pressing problem was which set of weeds did he want to eat at the moment?
I was not to know, for at the critical moment of my altered state, and as I accidentally drank from the goat milk, and as the switch occurred, time had stopped, giving me a sense of being frozen in psychological space, as though a swirling ocean of violent waves had engulfed me but immediately stopped moving. Just as immediately, my journey into goatdom reverted me back to my human state, and I concluded my moment by feeding the baby goat, headed back to the house, and drove to work. Maybe it had been a dream or a nightmare or a moment in time of escape, but nevertheless the event left me shaken yet oddly refreshed.
Rather than the feeling of stress that sometimes accompanied my path to work, that day as I walked into my office, turned on the computer, and checked the phone messages, I anticipated with great joy some sort of problem to solve. I smiled wryly and unabashedly as I thankfully and silently prayed to God in gratitude for not making me a goat! It was great to be a human. Such was the start of a great and beautiful week.
He ran to the fence with a sleepy but excited and energetic bound and stuck his head through the fence to get the bottle that I gave him each morning before I headed off to work. Unfortunately, this particular morning, in trying to shine the light on the little goat and get the bottle to him, I accidentally lifted the orange juice to his mouth where he quickly and eagerly grabbed it and swallowed a mouthful. At the same moment, thinking I was drinking my own orange juice, I, instead, took a healthy swig of goat formula and changed into a goat on the wrong side of the fence.
It took me a few minutes to discern the reality of my unusual situation. My brain functioned as a human but my outward appearance and my instincts were that of a goat. I momentarily laughed, cried, and instantly tried to scream for someone to help me, but all I could muster was a mournful baaaa and a grunt. I felt something crash into me and looked around to see another goat butt me hard in anger at the sounds I was making. I quickly moved into battling position, but the goat had moved away in apathy as though I made no difference at all in his life.
I looked around and saw the other goats and felt a desire to be near the others. This was new to me since my former human self sometimes preferred to be alone, particularly first thing in the morning. So I wandered over to the other goats, a group of nannies and one billy that did not acknowledge me at all, and quickly experienced hunger pangs and found myself bending down to find some grass and weeds which strangely were quite tasty but not very filling. As I munched on the delicious grass, I paused occasionally to look around and for the first time in a long time, felt completely devoid of any kind of goals or purpose. It was as though my mind had become a blank slate, but not even a slate, more of an empty space, with little ability to process much of anything other than my most basic of needs, namely food. It was strangely comforting, in the manner of not having to make any decisions can be, such as losing the sense of choice is both relaxing and disconcerting, and yet, the lack of discernment, its fundamental joy notwithstanding, was still more than a little frightening at the same time.
But what of my counterpart, my evil twin, my clone, my own personal thief? What of his whereabouts? Was he frightened also of the new life? Did his fear include driving, talking, meetings, calls, computer? In his new found freedom from the weeds of pasture, was the actually result a bigger pasture with more weeds? Was his freedom actually his straitjacket as he attempted to fit in with the human world? When he arrived in my office and encountered the first difficult question of the day, did he relish in the opportunity to solve the problem or did he beg for the past when his pressing problem was which set of weeds did he want to eat at the moment?
I was not to know, for at the critical moment of my altered state, and as I accidentally drank from the goat milk, and as the switch occurred, time had stopped, giving me a sense of being frozen in psychological space, as though a swirling ocean of violent waves had engulfed me but immediately stopped moving. Just as immediately, my journey into goatdom reverted me back to my human state, and I concluded my moment by feeding the baby goat, headed back to the house, and drove to work. Maybe it had been a dream or a nightmare or a moment in time of escape, but nevertheless the event left me shaken yet oddly refreshed.
Rather than the feeling of stress that sometimes accompanied my path to work, that day as I walked into my office, turned on the computer, and checked the phone messages, I anticipated with great joy some sort of problem to solve. I smiled wryly and unabashedly as I thankfully and silently prayed to God in gratitude for not making me a goat! It was great to be a human. Such was the start of a great and beautiful week.
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Crayons or Computers
"We want to color" was the statement my wife heard last week during the first week of school as she taught her first grade class. The students relished the opportunity to put a little crayon in their little hands and color the paper set before them. The crayon for children first came into being and was marketed in 1903 with 8 different colors presented. Today there are over 100 types of crayons in use including glow in the dark, glittering, and different smells to accompany the various colors. For more information on the history of crayola crayons, read http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blcrayon.htm.
In contrast, the computer as we know it today has been a meteoric development since 1936 with advanced features continuing today and public consumption of the computers continuing to grow at an astounding rate. Unlike the crayon, which aside from the various types and sizes available remains the same since inception, the computer has evolved quickly and dramatically to what we see today with 160 gigabytes of storage space for a personal computer and software for virtually (no pun intended) any interest or activity including coloring. I smile as I remember my first computer with its 20 megabytes of memory!
Today we have computers in every classroom, labs in most hallways, and a staff of computer wizards to help those who are not. Computers have capabilities to create glorious works of art, enhance movies, supplement brochures, add pictures and graphics to letters, signs, posters, and video. The possibilities are only limited by the human spirit and the future holds an infinite amount of computer graphics beauty and art we can only imagine today. With a computer there is no mess, you cannot accidentally leave a computer in your pocket, you cannot break it in half, and it will not melt outside in the sun. If you make a mistake, you simply do not save your work, and it is not on permanent display for all to see around the room.
So why do the little first graders request to color with crayons? In our modern age of electronic gizmos, it does not make sense that children would want to experience something as primitive as a crayon. You cannot plug it in, it does not beep, buzz, play music, show videos, display photographs, show maps, blog, email, or even play solitaire. A crayon can really only do one thing, and that is color in the way you want it to color. While several crayons can produce different colors, the possibilities of colors are somewhat limited and the human hand can only work so fast and so well. Besides, once it is on paper, there is no erasing the work.
Yet for all its lack of refinement and wizardry, the crayon continues to make its dramatic mark upon elementary aged children, both at home and in the classroom. Crayons do not require a server system, a technician, electricity, a keyboard, a mouse, a screen, and are much less expensive than a computer. The opportunity to hold a crayon in hand and work diligently to stay within the lines and choose different colors and bear down or color lightly or freely change the figures on the paper or randomly create your own picture is the opportunity to express yourself and tactilely reproduce what the mind has conceived. It is classic joy to color, to paint the world before you, to use your hands to improve that which is seen, to express your emotions with a crayon, and all without the use of a machine.
"Which is the winner, the crayon or the computer?" I ask myself as I type this blog on my expensive laptop and smile when I hear about the sheer pleasure the 1st graders are receiving when they are allowed to color at the end of day. Computers are here to stay, but, ironically, and antithetically, so are crayons!
In contrast, the computer as we know it today has been a meteoric development since 1936 with advanced features continuing today and public consumption of the computers continuing to grow at an astounding rate. Unlike the crayon, which aside from the various types and sizes available remains the same since inception, the computer has evolved quickly and dramatically to what we see today with 160 gigabytes of storage space for a personal computer and software for virtually (no pun intended) any interest or activity including coloring. I smile as I remember my first computer with its 20 megabytes of memory!
Today we have computers in every classroom, labs in most hallways, and a staff of computer wizards to help those who are not. Computers have capabilities to create glorious works of art, enhance movies, supplement brochures, add pictures and graphics to letters, signs, posters, and video. The possibilities are only limited by the human spirit and the future holds an infinite amount of computer graphics beauty and art we can only imagine today. With a computer there is no mess, you cannot accidentally leave a computer in your pocket, you cannot break it in half, and it will not melt outside in the sun. If you make a mistake, you simply do not save your work, and it is not on permanent display for all to see around the room.
So why do the little first graders request to color with crayons? In our modern age of electronic gizmos, it does not make sense that children would want to experience something as primitive as a crayon. You cannot plug it in, it does not beep, buzz, play music, show videos, display photographs, show maps, blog, email, or even play solitaire. A crayon can really only do one thing, and that is color in the way you want it to color. While several crayons can produce different colors, the possibilities of colors are somewhat limited and the human hand can only work so fast and so well. Besides, once it is on paper, there is no erasing the work.
Yet for all its lack of refinement and wizardry, the crayon continues to make its dramatic mark upon elementary aged children, both at home and in the classroom. Crayons do not require a server system, a technician, electricity, a keyboard, a mouse, a screen, and are much less expensive than a computer. The opportunity to hold a crayon in hand and work diligently to stay within the lines and choose different colors and bear down or color lightly or freely change the figures on the paper or randomly create your own picture is the opportunity to express yourself and tactilely reproduce what the mind has conceived. It is classic joy to color, to paint the world before you, to use your hands to improve that which is seen, to express your emotions with a crayon, and all without the use of a machine.
"Which is the winner, the crayon or the computer?" I ask myself as I type this blog on my expensive laptop and smile when I hear about the sheer pleasure the 1st graders are receiving when they are allowed to color at the end of day. Computers are here to stay, but, ironically, and antithetically, so are crayons!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)